Category: Opt-Out Legislation

Diane Ravitch just wrote about Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal’s veto of opt-out legislation that passed the Georgia General Assembly. This immediately reminded me of Delaware Governor Jack Markell’s horrible veto of House Bill 50 in the summer of 2015. Say, State Rep. Earl Jaques, why the hell hasn’t the new opt out legislation, House Bill 60, been put on the agenda for the House Education Committee. You promised me it would be over two months ago. Guess it isn’t a priority for YOU so it won’t get on there. Being the Chair of the Delaware House Education Committee means allowing all education bills to be heard in committee.

Opt out is alive and well. I may not write about it as much, but it is still happening. New York continues to have terrific opt out numbers. It won’t be until July or so until we find out Delaware’s opt out numbers for this year. That is when the Delaware Dept. of Education releases all the Smarter Balanced information from this year.

Down in Georgia, Jeb Bush’s insane Foundation for Excellence in Education jumped on the veto bandwagon. Ravitch quoted the Atlanta Journal-Constituion:

“The proposal would have harmed students and teachers by denying access to measurements that track progress on standardized assessments,” the advocacy group, founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said in a statement. “Maintaining a transparent and accountable measurement systems is critical to ensuring students are on track to succeed in college and beyond — and indicates how successful schools are in preparing students for the future.”

Hey Jeb, we don’t want progress on standardized assessments, we just want regular student progress. These flawed and meaningless tests don’t provide that. They feed the data whore beasts and waste a crapload of time in our schools. They stress kids out and the tests are used to label and shame teachers and schools. Enough already!

On Thursday, we will see new opt out legislation from State Rep. John Kowalko. It will be very similar to House Bill 50 but it will have a different number. I thought they would retire that number after the last go-around with opt out. Will House Bill #60something have a shot with Markell gone if the General Assembly passes it? Would Governor Carney sign it? Are parents still opting out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment? It doesn’t begin again until March so if parents are thinking about it, we won’t hear much noise until February. I still fervently support opt out as a parental choice and feel there should be legislation to codify that right. I already have a few ideas for a potential amendment but I’m holding that one very close to see how the response to the bill goes.

I will support this bill in its entirety. I will write about it and campaign for its passage. I don’t know if I will be as heavily involved in it as I was two years ago. But most of the legwork has already happened. House Bill 50 brought opt out into daily language in the First State. Markell fighting it most likely caused opt out numbers to increase. Some have (I believe correctly) surmised that ed reformers wanted opt out at some levels. Plans have been afoot to create stealth tests in a personalized learning environment. These would most likely be in the form of end-of-unit tests but it would still be the state assessment, just taken throughout the year. That could be a tough nut to crack. But all nuts have some crackability. You just have to find the right tool.